Bibhuti Pati Says, “The future cannot be built by burying someone else’s past. A nation’s progress should never be measured by the height of its structures, but by how gently it carries those who stand in their shadow.” A dam may hold back a river, but who will hold back the tide of displacement? Progress should build bridges to the future, not erase the footprints of those who came before. A nation grows not when it displaces its weakest, but when it carries them forward.” © 2026 Bibhuti Pati. This is an original quote written by Bibhuti Pati and is protected by applicable copyright law. No part of this quote may be reproduced, copied, adapted, published, or used without the prior written permission of the author.
Sacrifices at the altar of development
For some, the Ken-Betwa Link Project promises water. For others, it promises displacement. And somewhere between these two realities lies the uncomfortable question that India’s development story has repeatedly struggled to answer: who gets the benefits, and who pays the price?
On July 19, while the protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar commanded national attention, another struggle—far from the capital and largely outside the national spotlight—was unfolding along the Barana River in Kupi village, Madhya Pradesh. Here, hundreds of villagers, most of them tribal people facing displacement by the ₹44,600-crore Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP), were protesting against a project billed as a landmark solution to Bundelkhand’s water scarcity.
The timing was striking. Just 24 hours after Delhi Police forcibly removed environmental activist Sonam Wangchuk from his protest site on the 21st day of his indefinite hunger strike, Amit Bhatnagar, a leader of people affected by the KBLP and founder of the Jai Kisan organisation, was also forcibly removed from the protest site in Kupi. Two protests, two distant locations, and two very different causes—but with one common thread: people demanding to be heard before decisions affecting their lives and futures are made.
The question is not simply whether Bundelkhand needs water. It does. The deeper question is whose land, forests, homes and livelihoods must be sacrificed to deliver that water—and whether such a cost can truly be called development.
Although the Madhya Pradesh Police admitted him to the ICU of a nearby government hospital, Bhatnagar continued his protest. He ended his 18-day hunger strike on July 23. Following the development, the administration ordered a fresh survey in the project-affected villages. According to the Jai Kisan organisation, it was also agreed during discussions that an authorised representative of the organisation would remain present in every village during the verification process.
The 77-metre-high Daudhan Dam, proposed under the Ken-Betwa Link Project, is expected to displace 5,288 families in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district and another 1,400 families in Panna district because of land submergence and land acquisition associated with the dam. Many of those affected belong to the Gond and Kol tribal communities, who have lived for generations along the forest fringes and depend largely on agriculture and forest produce for their livelihoods. But perhaps the most troubling aspect of the project is the enormous gap between the compensation promised on paper and what affected families say they are actually receiving.
The government has announced compensation of ₹6 lakh for houses that are 30–40 years old and ₹12.5 lakh per acre of land. Yet, according to reports, the ground reality is very different. The administration has offered affected families a cash package of ₹12.5 lakh, but the amount has reportedly been deposited into the accounts of only around 40 per cent of the affected families. The fundamental principles of just rehabilitation—“land for land” and “village for village”—are also alleged to have been overlooked.
On April 8, 2026, local tribal women organised what they called a ‘Chita Andolan’, or funeral-pyre protest. By symbolically preparing funeral pyres, they sought to convey that the circumstances they were being forced into by displacement were, in their words, more painful than death itself. This was followed by a series of other forms of protest, including indefinite hunger strikes, Mati Satyagraha and Jal Satyagraha.
The protesters have repeatedly maintained that they are not opposed to development. Their demand is that the rehabilitation process should be completed lawfully and transparently before displacement takes place. Their principal allegations include irregularities in compensation, flawed rehabilitation surveys, questionable Gram Sabha proceedings, payments being made to ineligible beneficiaries, and incomplete rehabilitation before construction proceeds.
The Ken and Betwa are both tributaries of the Yamuna, draining the extensive Bundelkhand Plateau across Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Ken-Betwa Link Project is the first major project under India’s National Perspective Plan for interlinking rivers. The idea of interlinking rivers was first formally proposed by the Ministry of Irrigation in 1980. In 1995, the KBLP was given an institutional framework through the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) for conducting feasibility studies on the transfer of water between river basins.
After decades of controversy and delays, the project gained fresh momentum on March 22, 2021, when the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti and the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh signed the Ken-Betwa Link Project agreement in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present on the occasion. Later, on December 25, 2024—the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee—Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone of the project at Khajuraho. It was during Vajpayee’s tenure that the river-linking programme acquired significant political momentum.
According to the government, once completed by 2030, the project will provide irrigation to 1.06 million hectares of land, supply drinking water to 62 lakh people, and generate 130 MW of hydropower and solar power.
But the price of this promised development is substantial. At least 10 villages are expected to be completely submerged by the reservoir, while another 11 villages will be displaced for canal construction. More than 7,000 families are expected to be affected. The dam will submerge approximately 5,578 hectares of forest land and fragment the Panna Tiger Reserve. Of the reserve’s 543-square-kilometre area, nearly 98 square kilometres are expected to be submerged. Panna had itself achieved a remarkable conservation success after tigers were locally driven to the brink of extinction, with the species successfully reintroduced there in 2009.
The long-term environmental risks associated with river-linking projects have also raised serious concerns. In 2019, an expert committee constituted by the Supreme Court expressed reservations about the KBLP, questioning its economic viability as well as its potential impact on wildlife. The committee recommended that the government explore alternative irrigation methods within the river basin.
Independent studies on India’s river-linking programme have raised similar concerns. A study published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications in 2023 warned that such projects could potentially intensify water stress in the country, making them ineffective and, in some circumstances, even counterproductive. The BBC subsequently reported on the findings.
An alternative approach has been proposed: restoring the estimated one lakh natural water bodies scattered across Bundelkhand. Reviving these traditional and natural reservoirs could potentially conserve more water at a lower cost, while avoiding the displacement of thousands of people.
Amid all these development interventions, it is the marginalised and vulnerable tribal communities that appear to be paying the highest price. For generations, tribal people across India have borne a disproportionate burden of displacement. Various studies have shown that although tribal communities constitute only about 8.6 per cent of India’s population, they account for more than 40 per cent of those displaced by development projects.
The KBLP has once again brought an old and uncomfortable question to the forefront: development for whom, and at whose cost?
The ₹44,600-crore Ken-Betwa Link Project is intended to bring irrigation benefits to 2.51 lakh hectares across districts such as Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, potentially benefiting farmers in those areas. On the other hand, the Gond and Kol tribal communities facing displacement in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur and Panna districts are not the direct beneficiaries of these irrigation gains.
This raises profound questions of environmental justice and the equitable distribution of costs between the two states. Can the marginalised people of one state be expected to bear the environmental and social costs of providing irrigation benefits to farmers in another?
And for how much longer will India’s tribal communities be expected to sacrifice their jal, jangal and zameen—water, forests and land—to bear the cost of what is described as development?
Cheeta-Mitti-Akash Andolan
The Ken-Betwa river-linking project has reached a critical stage, even as several questions surrounding its social and ecological consequences remain unresolved. With construction of the Daudhan dam near Dhondhan village gathering momentum, local tribal communities facing displacement say their concerns are being pushed aside in the name of development. As efforts to relocate affected families intensify, resistance has grown across villages in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur and Panna districts.
For nearly two months, villagers have sustained a largely non-violent campaign through sit-ins, demonstrations, road blockades and gheraos of the collector’s office. The movement is being led by social activist Amit Bhatnagar of Jai Kisan Sangathan, who was earlier associated with the Aam Aadmi Party.
One of the most striking protests took place on April 8 along the banks of the Ken river at Dhondhan. Hundreds of tribal farmers, many of them women, lay on mock funeral pyres in what became known as the “Chita Andolan”. Nearby, hundreds of others joined a dharna, holding placards and raising the slogan, “Nyay do ya mrutyu” — give us justice, or give us death.
The symbolism was stark. The protesters sought to convey that displacement from their ancestral lands was not merely a loss of property, but a threat to their livelihoods, community ties and sense of belonging. The mock funeral pyres represented what they feared could be the death of their way of life once the project submerges their villages.
At the heart of the agitation are grievances over rehabilitation and compensation. Farmers from villages in Chhatarpur and Panna allege that many families they consider eligible for rehabilitation have been left out of official plans. Others say they have yet to receive compensation, while allegations of irregularities and corruption in the compensation process have further deepened distrust of the administration.
The latest phase of the agitation began on April 5, when a group of villagers attempted to march towards Delhi but was stopped by police. At the same time, large numbers of villagers, particularly women, set up protest camps around the Daudhan dam construction area, the starting point of the river-linking project.
The protests soon took on several distinctive forms. During the “Akash Andolan”, participants observed fasts. In the “Mitti Andolan”, they smeared soil from their villages over their bodies, invoking their deep connection with the land. The “Jal Andolan” carried the protest into the Ken itself, with demonstrators standing for prolonged periods in knee-deep or waist-deep water. Some wore symbolic nooses around their necks to dramatise the desperation they felt over their uncertain future.
The powerful imagery of the “Chita Andolan”, in particular, brought national attention to the conflict. Yet behind the dramatic photographs lies a more fundamental question: what happens to communities whose homes and agricultural lands are sacrificed to make a large infrastructure project possible?
The agitation was temporarily suspended on April 16 after the state administration indicated that it was prepared to consider the villagers’ concerns. Whether that assurance will translate into adequate rehabilitation, fair compensation and meaningful participation in the process remains a central concern for the affected communities.
The dispute has also revived a much larger debate over the Ken-Betwa project itself. As the first major project to move into implementation under India’s ambitious river-interlinking programme, it is being presented by the Union government as a model for transferring water from a relatively water-abundant basin to a water-stressed one. The stated objective is to address chronic water shortages in Bundelkhand, a region spread across 13 districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
The project envisages transferring water from the Ken basin to the Betwa basin through the construction of the Daudhan dam and a 221-kilometre canal. Supporters argue that it will improve irrigation, drinking-water availability and agricultural productivity in one of India’s most drought-prone regions.
But the proposed benefits come with substantial environmental and social costs. A major concern is the inundation of parts of the Panna Tiger Reserve, along with the displacement of villages and the loss of agricultural and forest landscapes. Environmentalists and independent experts have questioned aspects of the project’s ecological impact, economic viability and long-term cost-effectiveness.
The idea behind such transfers is not new. In 1980, the Government of India introduced the National Perspective Plan for interlinking rivers, proposing to move water from areas considered to have surpluses to regions facing shortages. The National Water Development Agency was subsequently established to identify and facilitate a network of proposed river-linking projects. Of the many links envisaged under the programme, Ken-Betwa is the first to advance to the implementation stage.
In December 2021, the Union Cabinet approved the project, with its estimated cost placed at around Rs 44,605 crore. Its significance therefore extends far beyond the boundaries of Bundelkhand. The project is being watched as a test of whether India’s long-standing vision of interlinking rivers can deliver its promised benefits while adequately addressing the environmental consequences and the rights of communities living in the path of development.
For the people of Dhondhan and neighbouring villages, however, the debate is not an abstract question of national water policy. It is about fields cultivated for generations, homes that carry memories, and a future that they fear is being decided without them.
As the machinery of the Daudhan dam advances, so does the villagers’ question: can development be called successful if those who bear its greatest cost are denied a meaningful voice in determining their own future?
The rehabilitation package also provides for certain encroachers on government land. Those who have lived in such houses for more than two years may be eligible for compensation if the dwelling is their only residence. In addition, each eligible family is entitled to a one-time rehabilitation grant of Rs. 6.5 lakh, along with the option of an urban or rural plot, with the amount varying according to the choice. Individuals aged 18 and above are also eligible for separate rehabilitation benefits under the package.
However, several demands raised by the villagers have encountered legal and administrative limitations. Dr. Rajesh Rajora, Additional Chief Secretary for Water Resources, Madhya Pradesh, said the 2013 land acquisition law defines a family as a husband-and-wife unit, making it difficult to extend certain benefits separately to every individual voter.
The villagers’ demand to change the cut-off date for determining adult beneficiaries to January 1, 2026, has also not been accepted. The administration currently follows February 16, 2024, as the eligibility cut-off and argues that changing it would be inconsistent with the established procedure.
On the demand for residential plots, Rajora said the option remains available, but most affected families have opted for the special rehabilitation package of Rs. 12.5 lakh instead. According to the administration, this indicates a preference among many families for immediate financial assistance rather than land.
Rajora maintained that the land acquisition process has followed the applicable legal provisions. For each affected family, three separate awards have been sanctioned covering agricultural land, residential property and the special rehabilitation package.
More than Rs. 700 crore has so far been disbursed, accounting for roughly 90 percent of the total awarded compensation. The administration, however, has identified cases involving family members who had temporarily left their villages in search of employment and were subsequently left outside the rehabilitation package.
To address these cases, supplementary awards are being prepared. Officials estimate that such cases involve around 10 percent of the affected families, an issue that remains important as the government seeks to complete the rehabilitation process before the project advances further.
The ceremonial foundation stone of the Ken-Betwa river-linking project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, 2024. The project is expected to irrigate 10.62 lakh hectares, provide domestic water to around 62 lakh people and generate 130 MW of power — 103 MW through hydropower and 27 MW through solar energy. It is scheduled for completion by March 2030.
Yet, alongside these promised benefits, the project has faced persistent opposition from communities threatened by displacement. In February 2026, protests by villagers turned confrontational, with incidents of stone-pelting at officials and police and a blockade of the Bijawar tehsil office.
A major trigger was the arrest of activist Amit Bhatnagar, a prominent voice for farmers’ rights and a former Aam Aadmi Party candidate in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. After spending four days in custody, Bhatnagar was released on February 12. Tensions resurfaced during the April protests, when attempts by local officials to hold discussions with villagers on April 9 ended after the situation became increasingly hostile.
The agitation was eventually suspended on April 16 following discussions between the villagers and a delegation from the local administration. Officials assured the protesters that their grievances would be examined. The administration subsequently announced a fresh survey to ensure that every eligible family was included in the rehabilitation beneficiary list. It also promised to examine complaints concerning the assessment and payment of compensation.
(This is the first of a three-part series, “WHOSE WATER, WHOSE FUTURE?”, on the Ken-Betwa Project.)
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